The Crestview Bulldogs will head out to square off against the Chiles Timberwolves at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
For some reason, the away team has come away with the win the last five times Crestview and Pace have met, but the home crowd finally got their W last Tuesday. The Bulldogs fell just short of the Patriots by a score of 3-2. The loss continues a trend for the Bulldogs in their meetings with the Patriots: they've now lost three in a row.
Crestview wouldn't go down easily and took Pace into a fifth set but they suffered a heartbreaking two-point loss. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 22-25, 25-19, 25-19, 18-25, 19-17.
Kelsey Griffin
| 09/30/25 @ Pace | 32 |
| 09/27/25 vs Tate | 21 |
| 09/27/25 vs South Walton | 27 |
| 09/27/25 vs Destin | 20 |
| 09/27/25 vs Pensacola | 18 |
| + 12 more games |
Despite the defeat, Crestview got top-tier performance from Kelsey Griffin, who had 32 digs. Griffin is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 11 or more in each of the last 17 games she's played.
Meanwhile, Chiles had already won eight in a row and they went ahead and made it nine on Wednesday. Everything went their way against the Marauders as they made off with a 3-0 win.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Chiles was: they took every set by at least 11 points. The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 25-8, 25-13.
Crestview better focus on containing Madison Joyner and Natalie Gibson as the pair were huge in Chiles' win. Joyner had 12 digs and four aces, while Gibson had eight digs and three aces. That's the most aces Gibson has posted since back in September. Allie Higgins also deserves some recognition as she posted her first assist of the season.
Chiles was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 11 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least six aces in three consecutive contests.
Chiles' record is now 23-1. As for Crestview, their loss dropped their record down to 13-11.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Crestview has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.8 aces per game. However, it's not like Chiles struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.7 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Crestview couldn't quite get it done against Chiles when the teams last played back in October of 2019 as they fell 3-1. Can the Bulldogs avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
